Often regarded as one of the most expensive woods in the world, the sandalwood tree—which is indigenous to South India—is prized for its woody-floral fragrance that can be found be aromatherapy products such as essential oils and incense. Grinding sandalwood into powder also makes it an antidote for acne outbreak and sunburns. Odd as it sounds, sandalwood powder can also be added to food. The red-brown powder has been stirred into beverages and smoothie bowls and made into jams and chutneys.
For chef Sidharth, sandalwood, which is also known as an ayurvedic remedy that calms one’s nerves, bodes well with his definition of eating well. It also helps that the hotel is close to the idyllic foothills of the Himalayas, which stirs up his curiosity for unearthing the medical benefits of local ingredients and incorporating their flavours into dishes.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” he says. “I take pride in creating dishes using natural, wholesome ingredients that not
only taste good, but also nourish and benefit us from within.” He adds that one of the many benefits of the sandalwood powder in his food is that it aids gastric relief and promotes digestion.
Here, he shares his recipe for sandalwood-scented banana and fig cakes with peach relish. To make this entree, he seasons mashed bananas with sandalwood powder, rolls them into balls and stuffs them with an aromatic blend of figs, green chilli, coriander, mint leaves and cumin powder.
Constructing dishes that are as flavourful as they are nutritious is a culinary ethos that chef Sidharth follows closely, which isn’t much of a stretch when it comes to Indian cuisine. He explains: “Indian cuisine does not only focus on the nutritional part of the food but also the medicinal values. Our spices not only add flavour to the food but also provides nutritional, medicinal benefits.”
Top on chef Sidharth's favourite ingredients list are turmeric, which alleviates digestive disorders and liver disease, and avocado, a superfood that combats inflammation and symptoms of depression.
Chef Sidharth is one of the six chefs that will showcase their culinary prowess at the Taste The Moment festival, an epicurean event that is held at JW Marriott hotels across Asia. Making its debut in Singapore this year, the festival, which is in its second year, is held at the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach on March 24 & 25.
In his Nourish to Flourish masterclass, chef Sidharth will show how to build dishes that are flavourful and nutritious, including a refreshing avocado and mint salsa multigrain toast and a fennel and cardamom sherbet.
The two-day event features a gourmet line-up of chef masterclasses and workshops and dinners. Through workshops, foodies can learn the art of plating to create more stunning and drool-worthy plates, and how best to capture the visual spectacle though the ‘camera eats first’ workshop.
Beyond aesthetics, hands-on foodies can pick the brains of chefs from JW Marriott hotels through a series of informative masterclasses, which they can learn as much as they eat. Topics include unearthing insights on cooking with black truffles and exploring the flavours of food from Phu Quoc, an idyllic island in the south of Vietnam that is quick gaining a reputation for being a foodie hotspot.
Sandalwood-Scented Banana and Fig Cakes with Peach Relish
By chef Sidharth Bhardwaj of JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut Grove Resort & Spa, India
Ingredients
For the banana and fig cakes:
2 fresh bananas
25 grams dried figs, chopped
15 milliliters rose water
10 grams sandalwood powder
10 grams green chilli, chopped finely
25 grams coriander, chopped finely
20 grams mint leaves, chopped finely
15 grams cumin seeds
5 grams rock or black salt
5 grams white pepper powder
85 milliliters sunflower oil
Salt to taste
For peach relish:
1 whole peach, chopped finely
50 grams white onion, chopped finely
25 grams tamarind
25 grams caster sugar
15 milliliters sunflower oil
Salt to taste
For garnishing:
1 banana leaf
Microgreens (i.e. mint, coriander, mustard, rye, watercress)
Edible flowers (i.e. daylilies, lavender, nasturtiums, pansies, pinks, squash flowers)
Method
1. Cook bananas with the skin on in salted boiling water for 10 minutes.
2. Soak chopped dried figs in rose water. Strain and set aside.
3. Soak tamarind in warm water and soak microgreens in cold water. Set aside.
4. Strain tamarind after 30 minutes, reserving tamarind water.
5. Dry roast cumin on a pan until it is lightly toasted and fragrant. Blend the cumin in food processor till it turns into a coarse powder.
6. Remove stem from the banana leaf and cut into 20cm by 7cm pieces.
7. Peel cooked bananas and mash them with a fork. Add white pepper powder, sandalwood powder and salt to taste. Mix well.
8. In a mixing bowl, mix chopped figs, green chilli, coriander and mint with cumin powder, salt and rock salt.
9. For the peach relish, heat 15ml of sunflower oil in a pan, add chopped onion and sauté until translucent.
10. Add chopped peaches, castor sugar and salt, then add the tamarind water. Cook for two minutes while stirring the mixture constantly, then strain the sauce with a sieve.
11. Apply peach relish on a banana leaf and lightly paste it sauce side down on the serving plate. Remove leaf.
12. Roll out 3 equally sized balls of the spiced banana mash, and stuff them with the fig mixture. Lightly compress the middle to flatten them into a wheel shape.
13. Heat the remaining sunflower oil in a pan and fry the banana and fig cakes until golden brown.
14. Arrange the cakes on top of the peach relish on the serving plate, and garnish with microgreens and edible flowers. Serve hot.
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